


Train to Take Them On

by Justaseck



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Tony Stark, Badass Tony Stark, Clint Barton - mentioned - Freeform, Fighter Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha Teaches Tony Stark to Fight, Steve Rogers - mentioned - Freeform, tony stark - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 23:43:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16842814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justaseck/pseuds/Justaseck
Summary: Natasha finds Tony in the gym and decides to spar with him on occasion. Neither of them know when it becomes routine but Tony's getting pretty good at sparring. Natasha can't wait to see the look on Clint's face when he sees Tony fight.





	Train to Take Them On

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! If you can't tell from my other works, I'm a fan of Tony/Nat friendships. So here's another one. Because it should be so. 
> 
> Please, Please, PLEASE hit the kudos button because it takes very little effort and makes me feel good. And I about fall out of my chair from happiness if someone comments. So thank you to all who comment and leave kudos!

Tony was down in the gym. It was a little past four in the morning and no one else was awake that he knew of. After a particularly intense nightmare, he had given up trying to fall back asleep. And with the benefit of the gym being free at such an ungodly hour, he figured he'd get his workout in early. And yes, while he didn't workout with the rest of the team, he did consistently put in hours at the gym. 

They were just normally unusual hours. Like at 4 in the morning. He made his way through calisthenic stretches, getting the blood flowing. After a brisk walk on the treadmill, he felt nice and warm. He began methodically wrapping his hands and walked over to the punching bag hanging up in the corner. 

Steve normally occupied the space, loving to go round after round with the bag to work off some steam. But Tony had boxed for quite awhile. It became his main way of strengthening the muscles of his chest when they could handle the strain it put on them. 

He hit the bag with a combination, his form perfect. Starting out with the basics, he made sure his hand positions were correct before throwing another punch at the bag. Slowly he gained momentum before letting himself get into a groove where there was nothing more than the repetitive thumps of his fists. 

His mind was quiet as it recognized the familiarity that punching the bag brought. He didn't notice a shadow move on the opposite wall of the gym. Throwing in some complicated jabs, he allowed his focus to extend to his footwork. 

And from his point of view, he had every right to throw a punch at the person who had startled him as he danced around to the other side of the bag. His wrapped hand was caught with a look of amusement as Natasha walked fully into view. She sent him a nod of approval as she released her grip. "Nice. Are you ready for a real challenge that can hit you back?" 

She was also dressed in athletic clothes. A water bottle was in the hand that had just let his fist go. He dropped his hand and took a step back. Raising an eyebrow at her request, "I don't think I could take you on even if you tied one hand behind your back and were blindfolded." He drawled. 

She smirked as she set her water bottle on a bench and began wrapping her own hands. "No, but I promise to try to not to break anything. What do you normally do for training, anyways? You never train with us." 

He looped an arm around the bag, leaning against it. "Normally boxing or weights. A little treadmill work. Just trying to keep up with you lot, which is impossible, by the way. And of course I don't train with you all. You'd run circles around me and nothing is more demoralizing than weightlifting next to Captain America."

He watched as she started stretching. Walking over to his own water bottle, he took a sip and wiped the sweat with a towel. He began unwrapping his hands. When he saw Natasha looking at him, he shot her a grin. 

"You can beat me up another time. I think I'm done for today." He nodded goodbye as he grabbed his stuff and headed towards the door. He heard no reply from Natasha as she no doubt watched him leave. 

A week later, he was back in the gym. This time the clock read 1:15am when Tony had rolled out of bed. Bleary eyed and already sweating, he stumbled his way into the gym. He sat on the bench and tried to catch his breath. Leaning forward to cradle his head in his hands, he took slow deep breaths. 

Which is exactly why he jumped 10 feet in the air when a cool hand was felt at the back of his neck. "Shit!! What the hell?" Was his breathless exclamation as he clutched his hand over the reactor. He was turned to face the intruder in a semi crouched position, one hand protecting the reactor and one extended to stay off an attack. A calm expression met his panicked one. 

"Fucking hell, Natasha! He snarled as he righted himself. She raised her hands in an apologetic motion. "Sorry, Stark, I didn't think you'd be that wound up." He stared at her for a long moment, everything silent except his harsh breathing. And his lucky to still be beating after a scare like that heart. 

"Yeah, well, lack of sleep and nightmares tends to not make me hear silent ninjas sneaking into a gym when everyone should be asleep. What the hell are you doing here, anyway?" 

She shrugged. "Jarvis let me know you were headed down here." Her eyes never left his as she studied him. She took in his shorts and tennis shoes and his crumpled t-shirt. His breathing was now a semblance of normalcy. He didn't question why Jarvis had informed her of his coming down here, or why she was even awake for him to notify her. He simply turned and headed for the rack of dumbbells. 

Grabbing two, he laid on the floor in a sit-up position and began bringing the weights up and together, slowly letting them back down in a bench press motion. He still remained quiet as Natasha came to sit next to him. "That looks like it hurts," she said. He grunted, "You wouldn't believe the words that came out of my mouth the first time I tried this exercise. Was a bit premature in the recovery phase of getting the arc reactor installed for me to be trying it."

Natasha snorted, "I can imagine. How long before you tried it again?"  
"Uh, can't say that I recall." He sat up, not meeting her stare. 

-I believe it was the next day, sir.- came the response from Jarvis. 

This time Natasha let out a laugh as Tony threw up his hands in exasperation. "Thank you, Jarvis. I didn't need your input you divulging cyborg." 

"Well persistence has gotten you far. Looks like the muscles around the reactor are fairly strong."  
Tony placed the weights back in their holder, nodding. "They're getting there. That's why I mainly weight lift and box to engage those muscles. I've got to keep up with it or they constantly ache." 

Natasha stood, walking over to the part of the gym that was for boxing. She grabbed two handheld punching mitts. “Come on, Stark, let’s see what you’ve got.” 

Reaching for the roll of tape, he began wrapping his hands. Natasha met him in the middle of the mats. They danced around for a moment until Tony threw a punch. He quickly ducked the swing of Natasha’s hand coming at his head. A sharp grin came right along with it. 

“Alright, if that’s how it’s going to be then.” Tony took a quick step forward and jabbed a one-two hit, following it with a powerful jab to the left glove. 

Natasha rocked back, letting the momentum carry her into a defensive position, the mitts still upright. “Move your feet into a solid base when you punch.” She murmured quietly, not breaking his focus. 

He adjusted his feet accordingly and swung again. She continued giving him advice on placement of his footing, positioning of his fists and effectiveness of his jabs. Once he had incorporated the advice into practice, she would demand certain combinations of hits. 

Failure to correctly deliver the order with proper form was often met with a smack across the head with the padded mitt. No matter how quickly he ducked, he was never quick enough to avoid it from making contact. 

They soon fell into a rhythm of punches, jabs, and defensive ducks. Sweat was dripping on the mat from Tony. The practice ended with Tony taking a step back and taking in a deep breath, calming his heart rate. 

Natasha lowered the padded gloves, nodding at him. Tony shot her an amused grin saying, “I think that’s enough practice for now. Not sure I could take another swat to the head,” pointing at the mitts. 

He let out an indignant squawk as he felt the mitt swipe him upside the head. Natasha smirked at him as she put away the gear. “You should stretch before finishing up,” she said. 

“Yes, ma’am,” giving her a mock salute, he dropped to the floor and began stretching. 

“Round two later this week?” He asked, a hint of hopefulness coloring his voice. A flash of surprise was quickly masked as Natasha answered, “Sure. But hand-to-hand sparring is in round two.”

Tony levered himself off the floor and headed for the door. Grabbing a towel, he shouted, “Looking forward to it!” and began whistling as he left. 

As the weeks went by, it became a routine. Whenever Tony couldn’t sleep, he would change into workout clothes and go to the gym. By the time he was done warming up, if not sooner, Natasha would be walking through the door. 

They covered boxing, sparring, tae kwon do, and hand-to-hand combat. She taught him Tai Chi and yoga poses to stretch his muscles and focus his mind after nightmares. 

And he was improving. Natasha could tell he was growing in strength and in fighting strategy. With more than one fighting technique to use, he could switch from one to the other fairly rapidly. 

_It would be interesting to see Tony and Clint spar_ , she mused as Tony warmed up. The element of surprise with Clint not expecting much would give Tony a huge advantage in taking him on at the beginning. 

Tony stepped onto the sparring mats and crouched into a ready position. His arms were already muscled from his everyday lifting, but the extra training now had them toned and corded. His whole body was lithesome as he watched her warily. 

She made the first move, stepping close and hooking his leg to throw him off balance. He used his weight to counteract the move and threw himself at her. They both tumbled to the ground and grappled for a pinning position. It took her longer than she liked to admit before she had him pinned. Releasing him, they both circled each other. A fist came flying at her head and she stepped back to avoid it. Immediately he swiped a foot and she was off balance. Pressing the advantage, he slid across the mat and pretty much tackled her. 

She countered with a sharp elbow jab to the shoulder as they were once again both on the mats but Tony only grunted in acknowledgement. His weight covered her torso and he quickly pinned her. He smiled in victory and she returned it before it morphed into a vicious one. Bucking her weight upwards, she swung her knee up and backwards somersaulted him over until he was lying with his back on the mats, gasping for air. 

“I almost had you for a minute,” he wheezed, it quickly turning into soft laughter. “That felt good!” 

Natasha offered him a hand up off the mats. “Not too shabby, Stark. Not too shabby.”

He winked at her as he wiped the sweat off. “Must’ve had a great teacher then.”

He had proven himself to be a capable fighter over the weeks, and only stood to improve if he kept at it. Natasha couldn’t wait to see the expression on Clint or Steve’s face when they saw Tony fight out of his suit for the first time. 

_She would have to place bets with them all_ , she mused as she headed up to her floor.


End file.
